They've been trying to do a live-action version of this for many years now. I think it could be spectacular with todays CGI. As to why do it in live-action: because live-action has a totally different look, feel and effect than animation. If it sucks then the original will still be the original, but theres a lot of potential for greatness here that it worth a stab at it. And personally, I always felt Akira was kind of overrated anyway--cool animation and concepts, but the writing was nothing great, and it wasn't really as original as people think it was anyway.